Backpacks, books and sunbathers were scarce around the Yard and houses yesterday. Instead, the campus teemed with parked cars, wandering parents and grumbling students with immense packages fighting losing battles with gravity.

Underclass students must move out of their dorms today, and the evacuation was in full fledge yesterday. Some, like Brian L. Frank '95, did not escape unscathed.

Frank, who is transferring from Dunster House to Eliot House next year, suffered a bloody gash in his right leg yesterday while moving boxes. He said he incurred the wound rushing to the Eliot storage center to beat the 3 p.m. closing time.

One problem with the moving-out process, he said, is that the houses are inflexible about extending the hours in which materials can be placed in storage. Frank also lamented the lack of carts available to students around campus.

Another problem Frank encountered while moving out was the foul odor of the storage center.

"I would prefer not to elaborate on what it smells like," he said.

David M. Nuzum '96, who lived in Thayer Hall and will be in Eliot next year, encountered different obstacles while moving out of his dorm. His roommates went home before him, leaving him with 20 boxes and many pieces of furniture that he was supposed to simply "get down to Eliot somehow."

Nuzum said he ended up making about 20 trips from Thayer to Eliot, transporting the boxes and furniture by hand. He said he received very little help from other students in this ordeal.

According to one student, Nuzum's roommates had the right idea. "The key to moving out," said Todd P. Shaman '94, a Kirkland resident, "is leaving before all your roommates."

Many students were assisted by their parents. Frank Pasquale drove from Phoenix, Arizona to help his son, Frank A. Pasquale III '96 move out and to drive him home. Pasquale spoke casually of his four-day trek to Cambridge.

"It's an easy drive...just get on Route 70 and close your eyes," he said.

Some students, too, thought moving was no big deal. As Shaman said, "In the realm of things, it's much less of a hassle than dealing with other things in the world.